Where should I live in the Fall River area?

[lrfox]

Originally Posted by vgs1895

My husband and I just got back after driving 3000+ miles round trip to FR. We helped our daughter move in, and we fell in love with the town. It's very similar to our town (Duluth, MN), except our town had a *huge* revitalization in the 1980s. The scuzzy downtown port/harbor area was completely remade and is now a showcase of shops, museums, lovely walks, etc. Very safe, very nice. If someone ever did anything like that to FR, it would become a major destination.

Because I had to go out at night trying to find some medication at CVS, then Walgreen's, I ended up driving many places. I was pleasantly surprised. People everywhere were very nice and helpful to me.

We felt very good about our daughter's apartment and the town in general.

Glad it wasn't as bad as you thought. Fall River could use some work, but there are some major projects already underway/about to be underway that will make changes to the harbor front. The elevated section of Route 79 (that ugly green double deck highway near the Battleship) is about to come down and replaced with a surface boulevard lined with retail and residential space as part of a $179 Million project. The Commuter Rail connection to Boston is still on track (bad pun) for late 2016. There are a lot of people who who really care about the city and there really are a lot of bright spots.

PS--I was worried that the two huge smoke stacks were nuclear power plants, but apparently not?!

It's a coal fired plant. Those smoke stakes are actually cooling towers (less than 2 years old) to let water cool before sending it back into the Bay. Any "smoke" you see coming from them is simply steam evaporating from water. I was lucky enough to take a look inside before they went into operation. On the other hand, that power plant is coal fired and it's one of the "Filthy Five" dirtiest plants in Massachusetts (largest emitter of CO2 in New England). There are efforts to either shut it down or utilize a different source of power, but so far there hasn't been much progress (simply shutting it down would be damaging to a city with high unemployment already).

[Toot02720]

Originally Posted by jurisdoctorette

I was recently offered a legal job in Fall River. I've been reading quite a few threads about Fall River and it sounds like a terrible place, but the pictures I've seen online aren't bad - it just seems like an old city.

I'm looking for a place to live that has access to trails for running, is scenic, has at least a few fun things to do at night and access to shopping. The size of the city isn't very important to me - I like small towns, I like big cities. I will only be making $40k/year and with my loan payments can only afford to spend about $600/month on an apartment. I'd like to limit my commute to 25-ish minutes each way (I loathe commutes).

My primary concerns are that I can find an apartment that doesn't have bugs or rodents, in a decent area of whatever town I live in. I'm not REALLY concerned about crime rates because I went to school in Washington, D.C. and know how to take care of myself. I don't particularly like suburban areas - they kinda make me claustrophobic. I'd rather live rural or urban.

My boyfriend lives in DC and I'll be flying down there at least once a month, so I'm also looking for someplace that is airport-accessible.

Would I be insane to live in Fall River? Is it a really horrible place, or does it simply have "character"? I'm not looking for something incredibly nice, but I also don't want to have bugs and peeling paint and garbage everywhere.

Edit: for more context on what I'd consider livable, I spent the last three years sharing a 1br apartment in a 50-year-old building in DC. I currently live in Duluth, Minnesota, which is an old mining town with old buildings. I actually prefer old buildings and cities with character over fancy brand new buildings and cities, as long as they're livable.

I was born and raised there and left as soon as I was old enough to do so legally. It is a pit! Negative population growth, real estate values decreasing by 3% per year, high crime and one of the worst education systems in the country. They push you through high school so they won't have to put up with you another year. Can't read, no problem...here's your diploma. I couldn't leave fast enough.

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by lrfox

It's a coal fired plant. Those smoke stakes are actually cooling towers (less than 2 years old) to let water cool before sending it back into the Bay. Any "smoke" you see coming from them is simply steam evaporating from water. I was lucky enough to take a look inside before they went into operation. On the other hand, that power plant is coal fired and it's one of the "Filthy Five" dirtiest plants in Massachusetts (largest emitter of CO2 in New England). There are efforts to either shut it down or utilize a different source of power, but so far there hasn't been much progress (simply shutting it down would be damaging to a city with high unemployment already).

This is an ancient post but I'd assumed the new stacks were part of some natural gas conversion. It's mind-boggling that anyone would have invested in a coal plant with stacks that the Wiki says were started in 2009. It was pretty well understood by 2009 that fracking was going to make for cheap natural gas.